h2g2 has always been a diverse place. That's one of its strengths. When it came to our writing, though, things got a bit polarised. The Edited Guide and therefore Peer Review demanded factual accuracy and a simple writing style in which every Researcher could feel comfortable. The character of the UnderGuide was cultivated as a direct contrast, encouraging complex and clever work in any and every genre that the Edited Guide rejected. A lot of gifted Researchers contributed to one or the other, but few felt comfortable with both.

The new h2g2 needs excellence and it needs community, the same as it ever did. We're travelling light, though. We need a way to capture both the inclusivity of the Edited Guide and the thirst for high quality of the UnderGuide, without splitting the community into groups that only believe in one and not the other, or that favour writing of a particular kind over writing in the round.

We're going to try an idea called the Showcase. The aim is to create a collection of the very best of our writing, but unlike the previous aspirant to that title (namely the UnderGuide), this Showcase will admit Entries of every kind.

The long-term selection method for the Showcase remains to be decided, and it's properly a decision for the community. In order to seed the idea, though, we need to find a list of exceptional Entries from both EG and UG, and we're inviting every Researcher to nominate candidates.

There's a thread headed "My Showcase Nominations" below this Entry, and it's there for just that purpose. Think carefully about your choices, identify them by A-number, and note the following rules:

• Each Researcher may nominate one Entry from the Edited Guide and/or one Entry from the UnderGuide, and one Entry from somewhere else (such as, but not limited to, the Post), ie a maximum of three Entries. If you pick more than one entry from any category, only the last one posted will be counted.
• No multiple personalities, please. One frood, one vote. Or three votes. Come on, you know what I mean.
• A rule of this starter set for the Showcase will be that no Researcher will be represented more than once, so if your favoured two pieces, one in the EG and the other in the UG, happen to be by the same author, then bear in mind that at most one will be admitted. (This rule won't be imposed on contributions to collaborative Entries, btw).
• Remember that the Showcase is going to be based on writing quality. There might be an Entry that you like because a particular friend wrote it, or because it describes something of which you're personally fond. These aren't reasons for nominating the Entry though. You should only do so if you think that it's also very well written, and so will be appreciated by everybody, not just you.
• On the other hand, don't be too influenced by what others think. It's your opinion that counts, just as long as it's a considered opinion.
• Our panel of h2g2 writers will review every nominated entry, and select the best entries for inclusion.

So what constitutes writing quality, you might ask? There's no single answer, of course. But even though the criteria are subjective, you'll know quality when you read it. It might make your spine tingle. It might stop time, or make you forget what you were supposed to be doing. It might transform your mood, change your opinion or (perhaps best of all) inspire you to contribute its like.

Thanks for taking part. Let's make sure that we set aside some fine reading material for our imminent journey, and build something that will prove to our visitors just how good we are. Most of all, though, let's create a collection that we can collectively enjoy and admire, and that will set a benchmark that we can aspire to whenever we write.

Pinniped

18.07.11 Front Page

11.07.11 Front Page

Back Issue Page